A new study has found that self-examination using digital health devices is associated with weight loss. The findings of the study were published in Obesity, The famous Journal of the Obesity Society.
A systematic review of many randomized controlled studies among overweight or obese adults showed that increased participation in self-examination using digital health devices was associated with severe weight loss. This is the first comprehensive systematic review to examine the link between digital self-analysis and weight loss.
“Digital health devices have thrived in the last decade,” said Michele L. Patel, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California.
“What this paper was trying to do is investigate whether detection through these digital devices is effective in achieving more weight loss,” said Patel, co-author of -responsible to the study.
With widespread obesity with rates of 42 percent among U.S. adults and 13 percent worldwide, there is a need for treatment options that have high efficacy, appropriateness, and accessibility. Technology-reducing interventions, including SMS, apps, wearables, and websites often resulted in weight loss similar to or less than personal interventions. However, the previous studies did not focus on self-examination. Current research addresses this gap and contributes to the science of participation in behavioral interventions.
Conducted in accordance with the Best Reporting Subjects Guidelines for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyzes, the study included 39 randomized controlled studies of behavioral weight loss interventions for overweight or obese adults. use of digital health technologies for self-examination.
Six databases – PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, PsycInfo, CINAHL, and ProQuest theses and dissertations – were examined for studies that included interventions of 12 weeks or longer, weight results for six months or more longer, and results on self-examination involvement and their relationship to weight loss. The studies were published between January 2009 and September 2019.
Among the 67 interventions with digital self-examination, weight was found in 72 percent, diet in 81 percent, and physical activity in 82 percent. Websites were the most common self-checking technology tools followed by apps, wearables, electronic blades, and text messaging. No study did social media platforms for self-examination.
Digital self-examination was associated with weight loss in 74 percent of cases. This pattern was found in the three main behaviors that are maintained (dietary intake, physical activity, and body weight). Few interventions had digital self-examination communication rates greater than 75 percent of days. Digital devices had higher rates than paper-based journals in 21 out of 34 comparisons.
“This is probably because many digital devices are highly portable, thus allowing the user to monitor at any time of the day; digital devices can also track more sooner and may not be as burdensome to use, “Patel said.
“Previous reviews of these new tools have shown that self-examination plays an important role in the maintenance of weight loss (ie, preventing weight gain), and The next crucial step for our field is to explore how we can help them maintain communication with these devices in the long term after the original novel goes extinct, “he said. Professor Kathryn M. Ross, PhD, MPH, Department of Clinical Psychology and Health, University of Florida, Gainesville Ross was not involved in the research.